THE CONDEMNED MAN DYER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XI, Issue 4045, 29 October 1874, Page 4

THE CONDEMNED MAN DYER.

To-jiorrow morning, at S o'clock, the life of Charles Dyer will be offered, up upon the gallows as a sacrifice to the law for the murder of Eliza Battersea. We have already said that there is a jjGadiljility of Dyer's innocence, and we have urged, and now again urge that- to strangle a man until he is dead for a crime of which he may not be guilty, and of which hereafter there' may be all-suiiicient proof offered, is revolting to all feelings of true humanity. We will now venture further, and say that there is not only a possibility, but there is a probability of Dyer not having committed this great crime, for which, if not reprieved, he will certainly suffer according to his sentence. Three ministers of religion have b*en in constant attendance upon the ! wretched man, and to all three as to one he ' has given the same explanation. He expresses himself ready to die. He has made his peace with God, and he entertains no hope of respite or pardon ; but, knowing he is about passing from life into a dread eternity, he declares most solemnly that the woman capsized the kerosene upon herself at the instant he was striking a match, the ignited head of which tlew off and set the oil in flame. He says : — There being no water at hand lie" carried her to the river ; that he immersed her body and so extinguished the flames ; and that, having done this, he carried her back. He did not drag her, as was sworn to by one witness ; and further, that the witness so swearing was a quarter of a mile from the spot at the time. A witness, George Watson, whose veracity there can be no particular reason to doubt, on his oath swore as foi" lows :—" In answer to my question, the deceased said she capsized the kerosene-feeder on her head, and that at the time the prisoner was striking a match to light his pipe, and the top flew off and burnt her hair." It is clear that George Watson either spoke the truth, or he committed gross perjury. He has not been charged with this crime, and so far as we know, his statement has not been challenged. The woman spoke the words when sue believed she was dying, and we cannot bring ourselves to believe that she went out of the world with a lie upon her lips. We have it from Mr. John Sheehan, a member of the House of Representatives, a gentleman whose word we may assuredly take, that he has known Dyer from the time he (Mr. Sheehan) was a boy ; that he knew him for many years, and that Dyc-r as a young man was looked upon as being of a kindly disposition—"one," to use Mr. Sheehan's own words, "who would net harm a t!y." Doubtless there are many others who could bear the same testimony. We know that the public mind is vcry uneasy about this hanging, which is to take placc to-morrow ; we believe also that there are some of the jury who arc beset with anxiety ; and in order that 110 great and terrible mistake may be committed, a mistake that will admit of 110 remedy, one that can never be recalled, we ask whether a respite, at least cannot be granted. His Excellency the Governor is in Wellington, the telegragh wires are intact, and if the clergymen who are in attendance upon Dyer, backed up by some o£ our philanthropic citizens were to forward a prayer to Sir James Fergusson, we arc moved to think that he would not decline to accede to it.